The High School adventures of Prussia and Hungary
by Chouko-chan
Summary: Will Prussia/Gilbert and Hungary/Elizaveta be able to sort out past misunderstandings and become friends again when they are both in need of companionship?


Gilbert suddenly smiled mischievously, then grabbed Elizaveta by the waist and slung her over his shoulder.

"Gilbert!" screamed Elizaveta in surprise, "Put me down!" She kicked and punched at his back, but Gilbert just laughed annoyingly and started carrying her off in an unfamiliar direction. After a few minutes Elizaveta gave up. It seemed that Gilbert was determined to take her wherever they were going and there seemed to be nothing that she could do about it. After another couple minutes of walking she decided to try again.

"You can put me down now," she said boredly.

"Have you realized where we're going?" asked Gilbert.

"Yes, I have so you can put me down now," coaxed Elizaveta.

"I don't believe you," declared Gilbert grinning impishly. He jostled her playfully on his shoulder and in response she slapped his back hard. After a few more minutes of silent walking they arrived at a grassy enclosure with a small lake in the middle. It was hidden several yards behind the tree line and was surrounded by trees on all sides. There was also a thick tree limb that extended over the lake and had a long rope tied to it with a big knot at the bottom.

Gilbert walked to the edge of the lake and sat down allowing Elizaveta to roll off his shoulder onto the ground. She sat next to him at the water's edge looking around.

"Do you remember this place?" asked Gilbert watching her intently.

Elizaveta hesitated. This place did seem familiar, but she could not quite remember why. She remembered the rope swing in particular and stared at it wracking her brain to try and figure out why it was familiar. Gilbert smiled sadly to himself and stared into the water.

"You don't remember do you?" he asked.

"This place is familiar," Elizaveta replied, "but I can't quite remember why." She looked at Gilbert and saw that he suddenly looked very lonely. She did not want to hurt his feelings, but she honestly couldn't remember.

"We used to come here all the time," explained Gilbert not taking his eyes off the water, "Our first year at the World Academy we found this place, and after that we used to come here all the time to get away from school and everything else. No one else knew about it, so it was like our place."

"Ooh," breathed Elizaveta. When he put it that way she felt horrible for not remembering, but now that he had mentioned it the memories started coming back to her.

"You used to grab me and jump off the rope swing," recalled Elizaveta, "and I hated it, so you kept doing it."

"Yeah," Gilbert remembered smiling, "I was so cute when I was younger."

_He hasn't changed a bit_, thought Elizaveta lying back in the grass. She wasn't sure if she was glad that he hadn't changed or not. Part of her was enchanted by how nonsensical he was, but another part of her was annoyed by his arrogance.

"So why did you bring me here?" she inquired stretching her hands out behind her and looking at Gilbert.

"I hoped that we could pick up where we left off," he admitted.

_He has undoubtedly heard about my break up with Roderick,_ thought Elizaveta.

She sighed and closed her eyes, turning her face toward the sky.

"Hey, why are you crying?" asked Gilbert taken aback.

"I'm not crying," responded Elizaveta in confusion, but when she put her hand to her face she found that it was wet. She quickly sat up and began wiping the tears from her face with both hands. This was so embarrassing! Why did he have to see her this way? They hadn't spoken in ages and now all of a sudden she was openly weeping in front of him. _This is pathetic_, she told herself,_ be strong or he'll mock you later._ No matter what she told herself the tears didn't seem to want to stop. Suddenly she felt arms enfold her and her head came to rest on Gilbert's shoulder.

"I'm sorry…you…have to…see me…like this," Elizaveta choked out though her tears.

"It's alright," Gilbert comforted her stroking her hair soothingly. "You've been strong, but you're only human. It's alright to cry. I won't think any less of you," he assured her.

After hearing that Elizaveta decided to let it all out now so that no one else would have to see her this way. She hugged Gilbert tightly and cried without holding back until she was sure that she couldn't cry any more. When she was sure that no more tears would come Elizaveta sat up and wiped her face on her sleeve. Gilbert reluctantly released her.

"Thank you," said Elizaveta sincerely, "for not making me go through that alone."

"Sure," Gilbert replied looking away, "It hasn't been that long since the annoying aristocrat, uh…did what he did, so I didn't expect you to feel better yet."

"Is it that obvious that he is what I was crying about?"asked Elizaveta smiling sheepishly.

"Well it was either that or you've developed some pretty severe mood swings since freshman year," Gilbert teased, "You put on a pretty good show at school though."

"What?" asked Elizaveta looking up in surprise.

"At school you do a good job convincing people that you're fine," Gilbert explained conversationally.

"If you can tell maybe I'm not doing such a good job," Elizaveta replied self-consciously.

"No, I can just tell because I'm awesome. Everyone else believes you," said Gilbert confidently.

"Alright then, if you're so awesome, tell me one way you could tell that I wasn't fine," challenged Elizaveta.

"It's your eyes," Gilbert replied looking at Elizaveta as he spoke, "your eyes have looked sad and in pain ever since that day, and when you smile it's always a superficial one that's just for show."

"You're just over analyzing me," said Elizaveta dismissively.

"No I'm not, I'm too awesome to be wrong," Gilbert replied persistently.

"That's not a real reason. You can't just say you're right because you're awesome," Elizaveta countered smiling at his poor logic.

"I don't have to say it because you just said it," Gilbert pointed out smugly.

"Well if that's really how you could tell how did you know what pained eyes look like?" Elizaveta challenged still trying to prove him wrong.

"Because…I've seen eyes like yours before," Gilbert admitted uncomfortably.

"Who were you stalking then?" asked Elizaveta sarcastically.

"None of your business," said Gilbert playfully sticking his tongue out at her.

She stuck her tongue back at him before replying, "So you _were _stalking someone."

"Please, the great Gilbert does not stalk people," Gilbert replied self importantly. "He just watches from a distance," he added under his breath.

"What was that?" inquired Elizaveta smiling playfully.

"There's a real smile," said Gilbert smiling back, "I've missed seeing it."

"Since when do you say things like that?" asked Elizaveta.

"Since I'm trying to make my friend feel better," Gilbert responded.

Elizaveta considered this. She did feel better. She felt as if for the moment a giant weight had been lifted from her chest. If Gilbert could make her feel this care free then maybe she should start hanging out with him again, after all most of her memories from freshman year were good ones. The only thing stopping her was a little voice in the back of her head telling her not to get attached to someone again because it would only end up hurting her in the long run.

Suddenly her face was covered with water. For a minute she thought that she had started crying again, but then she looked up and saw Gilbert dangling his feet in the water and smiling mischievously at her.

Intending to get revenge Elizaveta scooted over to the lake and knelt over the water so that she could splash him back. Unable to resist the temptation after seeing her bent over the water like that Gilbert quickly took one foot out of the water and pushed her into the lake.

"Gilbert!" gasped Elizaveta after she surfaced, "I'm in my uniform you know!"

"So?" replied Gilbert nonchalantly taking off his shirt and diving into the lake to join her. She had to admit the water felt good, but she at least wanted to take off her socks and shoes. When Gilbert surfaced she spat water in his face, and then hauled herself up onto the grass so she could take off her socks and shoes. She threw them over by Gilbert's shirt to dry, but before she could do anything else she was pulled back into the lake by Gilbert.

"Got ya!" he laughed and pulled her into the middle of the lake before disappearing underwater. Elizaveta felt paranoid not knowing where Gilbert was, so she swam to the side of the lake so he couldn't pop up behind her. _He's like a shark_, she thought as she waited for him to surface. He abruptly surfaced about 3 inches in front of her giving her another face full of water.

"Oh yeah?!" exclaimed Elizaveta competitively splashing him back. Before they knew it they were in an all out water fight. Gilbert ducked underwater to dodge one of Elizaveta's bigger attacks, but when he tried to swim back to the surface he found that his foot was caught up to the ankle in a large clump of weeds at the bottom of the lake. He tried to free himself, but he couldn't see clearly enough to get himself untangled. He tried not to panic, but he was running out of air. Seeing no other option he grabbed Elizaveta's ankle and dragged her underwater. He waited for her to open her eyes, and then pointed emphatically at his ankle that was caught. When she finally seemed to understand his vision was fuzzy and going black around the edges. The last thing that he saw before he completely blacked out was Elizaveta's panicked expression.

After seeing that he was ensnared Elizaveta quickly swam to the bottom of the lake and tore the offending plants off of Gilbert's ankle. She had expected him to immediately swim to the surface for air, but instead he just floated there. She swam up until she was face to face with him, then holding his face between her hands she realized that he has lost consciousness. She quickly swam behind him and hooked her arms around his shoulders. Then she kicked as fast as she could to get to the surface, hoping that his weight wouldn't be too much for her. Luckily they were close to the edge, so when they broke the surface she hurried to get out of the lake and pulled him out after her. She put her ear to his chest and heard a heartbeat, but there was no rise and fall of his chest. He wasn't breathing! Elizaveta frantically tried to remember what to do. When she came up blank she found herself getting angrier and angrier at Gilbert for putting her in this situation.

"Breathe stupid!" she screamed as she slapped him across the face as hard as she could. As if by a miracle he immediately began coughing and spitting out water. When most of the water was out he laid in the grass breathing deeply.

"Well that didn't go how I planned," remarked Gilbert breathing deeply.

"I'll say," complained Elizaveta sitting down next to Gilbert, "seriously why do you always have to be stressing me out like that."

"That sounds like the Elizaveta I used to know," recalled Gilbert smiling weakly.

"Wait," said Gilbert suddenly putting his fingers to his lips, "you didn't…did you?"

"What? Perform CPR? You wish," grinned Elizaveta.

"Then how did I come back?" asked Gilbert confused.

"I slapped you as hard as I could to knock the water out of you," smirked Elizaveta.

"That sounds like you too," said Gilbert sighing disappointedly. If he was going to have a near death experience he could at least get a kiss from Elizaveta out of it.

"I'm freezing," realized Elizaveta rubbing her arms. Now that the adrenaline was leaving her system she suddenly felt very tired and a little dizzy. She wobbled a little and put a hand on the ground to steady herself. Gilbert took a deep breath, then got up and retrieved his shirt.

"Here," he offered holding it out to Elizaveta.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" asked Elizaveta hesitantly taking the shirt from him.

"You said you were cold," Gilbert explained, "It's dry so you can change into it."

"Oh no," said Elizaveta handing the shirt back to him.

"Do you want to catch a cold?" Gilbert insisted throwing the shirt at her.

"Fine" sighed Elizaveta agitatedly after a short pause, "but no peeking," she added suspiciously as she headed for the tree line.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Gilbert assured her as she turned to face the opposite direction. "If I did she'd kill me," he added under his breath. She returned shortly wringing out her shirt and with her socks and shoes also on.

"What about you?" she inquired realizing that he didn't have his uniform jacket with him, "Won't you catch cold?"

"I'll dry off a lot faster than your shirt would have and besides," he continued smirking, "a cold is no match for my awesomeness." Elizaveta sighed and sat down. _Classic Gilbert_, she thought, _thinks he won't catch a cold because he's too awesome._

"You seem pretty worried about me though," said Gilbert self-importantly, "I saw that face you made when you found out I was caught in the weeds."

"I just didn't want to have to explain why your dead body turned up in the lake," replied Elizaveta coldly.

"It sounds like I owe you one," smiled Gilbert.

"We're even," said Elizaveta standing up slowly. When she finally stood all the way up her head started spinning and she fell down into the grass. She sighed and laid back in the grass.

"Are you alright?" asked Gilbert laying in the grass next to her.

"I don't know," answered Elizaveta, "today has been exhausting and I keep feeling dizzy."

"What time is it?" asked Elizaveta suddenly noticing that it was getting darker. Gilbert retrieved his phone.

"It's a little after 6," he told her.

"We need to get back or we'll miss dinner," Elizaveta pointed out quickly sitting up. Her head began spinning again and she groaned lying back down and putting a hand to her head.

"Hey, you don't look so good," Gilbert told her with a bit of anxiety creeping into his voice, "Do you need me to carry you?"

"I'll be fine," said Elizaveta waving her hand dismissively.

"Look, you wanna get back in enough time to change, right? 'Cause I doubt you wanna walk into the cafeteria wearing my shirt and a wet skirt, so just let me carry you," Gilbert said persuasively.

Elizaveta sighed. "Since when were you so thoughtful?" she asked looking at Gilbert.

"Only when I need to be," he replied.

"Come on, get on," he added turning around so that she could climb onto his back.

"You're not just gonna pick me up and throw me over your shoulder this time?" teased Elizaveta.

"I could," replied Gilbert looking at Elizaveta with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"I'll just get on," grumbled Elizaveta. She grabbed Gilbert's wrist to steady herself as she stood up. Then she climbed onto Gilbert's back and secured her arms around his neck. It was a little awkward since Gilbert wasn't wearing a shirt, but she was still very dizzy, so she was glad that she didn't have to walk back. She rested her head on Gilbert's back and soon began to feel drowsy.

"Elizaveta wake up, we're at your dorm," Gilbert told her trying to wake her up. She seemed to be in a very deep sleep though and did not wake up. Just when Gilbert was starting to wonder what he should do, Elizaveta's roommate Yekaterina opened the door.

"Oh my," she exclaimed in surprise when she saw them. "Is she alright?" she asked worriedly stepping out of the door way to let Gilbert enter.

"She's fine. She just seems to be in a deep sleep and I can't get her to wake up," Gilbert assured her removing Elizaveta's arms from around his neck and placing her on her bed.

"Well thank goodness," replied Yekaterina in relief. "I'm glad to see her sleeping so soundly for a change. It's been so hard on her ever since Roderick left her," she continued affectionately brushing the hair out of Elizaveta's face and sliding a pillow under her head, "The poor dear never gets a full night of sleep. She seems to get the worst night mares. Anyway, thanks for carrying her back here," Yekaterina finished smiling sweetly.

"Yeah," Gilbert responded putting his hands in his pockets and turning to leave. Somehow he felt kind of depressed after hearing all of that.

The next day after school Gilbert was walking down the hall when he saw Elizaveta looking for something in her locker. He stealthily crept up behind her and poked her hard in the side. Elizaveta instinctively spun around and smacked Gilbert in the face with her frying pan.

"Ahh!" Gilbert exclaimed in surprise holding his now bleeding nose. His eyes watered as he tried to stem the blood flow. Elizaveta looked at Gilbert in surprise at first, then she started giggling, holding her hand up to her mouth to muffle the noise.

"Are you alright?" she asked finally. Gilbert's eyes continued to water as he fished in his pocket eventually pulling out a tissue which he held up to his nose.

"I'll be fine," he replied, "Why do you have a frying pan in your locker?"

"Well you never know when you might need one," Elizaveta replied as though this were completely logical, "Are you sure your nose isn't broken? I hit you pretty hard."

"I'm too awesome to be defeated by a frying pan," Gilbert stated confidently.

"Even so just let me check," Elizaveta smiled fondly. She reached up and gently probed his nose with the tips of her fingers. She started at the bridge of his nose and trailed her fingers downward until he flinched involuntarily.

"I think you should go to the nurse," Elizaveta suggested.

"I think you should come with me since you broke my nose," Gilbert responded accusingly trying to guilt trip her accompanying him.

"Well you did sneak up on me," Elizaveta shot back. "And besides, I never said it was broken," she added defensively.

"Well is it broken?" asked Gilbert.

"I think so," Elizaveta admitted glumly.

"So you should come with me and help me explain what happened," Gilbert concluded.

"If I don't the nurse will probably just assume that you were doing something stupid with Francis and Tony again," Elizaveta pointed out smugly.

"So?" Gilbert answered grumpily unable to think of a good retort.

"But I guess since I did break your nose I'll go with you," Elizaveta conceded suddenly sweet. "Come on," she said taking his hand and leading the way as if he was a child. If it had been anyone else Gilbert would have immediately pulled his hand back and stormed off saying that he could find it himself. Since it was Elizaveta he didn't mind so much mostly because she was holding his hand.

"I _am_ sorry for breaking your nose you know," Elizaveta informed him after a few moments of silence.

"I should be used to getting hit by that thing by now, so don't worry about it," Gilbert answered.

" Still, I should be more careful or I could end up seriously injuring someone someday," Elizaveta continued guiltily.

"Wait, does that mean that you actually hit people other than me with that thing?" Gilbert asked in surprise.

"Well I did hit Francis with it once," recalled Elizaveta, "but that was in self-defense. I almost hit Ludwig with it once too, but only because I thought he was you. That's about it."

"I wish I could have seen the look on West's face," laughed Gilbert.

"Yeah he was pretty surprised," Elizaveta replied smiling, "although he was already a little taller than you, so I probably wouldn't have hit him in the face." They arrived at the nurse's office then. Elizaveta released Gilbert's hand before opening the door. She led the way in and explained to the nurse what was wrong. The nurse told Gilbert to have a seat on one of the beds, then she began examining his nose and shining lights in his eyes.

"What were you and Antonio jumping off of this time?" the nurse inquired sounding tired.

"What do you mean?" asked Gilbert in confusion. The nurse pulled back the white sheet separating him from the next bed to reveal Antonio who was sitting there with his ankle bandaged and propped up on several pillows. Francis was seated at the foot of the bed helping Antonio with a large ice pack that was folded around his ankle.

"What were you guys doing?" Gilbert asked eager to hear the story behind his friend's injury.

"Before we get to that, 'oo eez thees you 'ave brought with you?" Francis inquired in his heavy French accent.

"Oh shut up, you know who I am," Elizaveta snapped impatiently. "I'm gonna go back and get my stuff if you're alright," she continued turning to Gilbert.

"I'll come with you," he offered rising from the bed.

"No, I'd like you to stay here so I can make sure that you don't have a concussion," the nurse informed him, "Whatever hit you in the face seemed to really pack a whollop."

Elizaveta blushed. "I guess I'll see you later then," she said and hurried from the office.

"She does not 'ave to be so rude," scowled Francis, "maybe she still 'as not gotten over zat incident from last year."

"What happened?" Gilbert asked intrigued.

"I was just trying to take a picture of Roderick. 'e looked so 'andsome sitting out in the sunlight," Francis recalled, "Just when I was going to take ze picture, zat girl came out of nowhere and-"

"Hit you with her frying pan," finished Gilbert.

"Right on ze noggin!" complained Francis, "I could not get zat ugly bump to go away for a whole week!"

"Self-defense, huh," Gilbert commented under his breath. "And what happened to you?" Gilbert asked nodding to Antonio.

"I was trying to climb up one of the book cases in the library so I could look for someone and it fell on me," Antonio explained simply. "Anyway amigo, who was that girl just now?" Antonio continued, "I don't think I've met her before."

"Oh, she's an old friend, Elizaveta," Gilbert explained a little uncomfortably.

"And zees friend broke your nose?" guessed Francis.

"Well yeah," admitted Gilbert, "but she's just kind of like that."

"Like what? Violent?" asked Antonio in confusion.

"No, I mean she's the type of girl who shows affection to her friends by punching them," explained Gilbert.

"So zat bump on ze 'ead means that she likes me?" Francis asked puzzled.

"Uh, no, that meant 'stay away from Roderick'," translated Gilbert.

"Ok Mr. Smarty pants, 'ow do you know so much about her?" Francis inquired.

"I told you, we're old friends," Gilbert repeated.

"Just 'ow old?" Francis pressed.

"Well I met her my first year at the academy, the year before you guys got here," Gilbert explained hoping this would pacify his friend's curiosity. "And before her idiot ex-boyfriend got here," he mumbled under his breath.

"What was that, amigo? Something about an ex-boyfriend?" asked Antonio innocently.

"Oh, so you 'ave feelings for zees "old friend"," Francis concluded making air quotations.

"No! It's not like that!" Gilbert denied frantically.

"No need to get so defensive," Antonio told him.

"Unless it's true," Francis chimed in.

"It is not true!" Gilbert declared getting up and storming out of the office.

"Poor fellow," said Francis sympathetically, " 'e cannot even admit that 'e desperately loves zees girl."

"I dunno, he seemed pretty upset by the idea to me," replied Antonio.

"Trust me," Francis responded, "You do not speak the language of l'amour like moi."

"Hey, if you say so," Antonio said feeling like he was missing something, "Do you think I can take this ice pack off yet? I'd really like to get out of here too."

The next day after school Gilbert caught up with Elizaveta just as she was exiting the school and walking out into the court yard.

"Hey! Elizaveta! Wait up!" Gilbert called running to catch up with her. "You wanna hang out today?" he asked as they walked into the courtyard together.

"Well I've got nothing better to do so sure," agreed Elizaveta. Deep down she still felt a little guilty for breaking his nose yesterday.

"Let's go to our lake," Gilbert suggested.

"Only if you promise not to abduct me this time," Elizaveta replied playfully.

"You mean you didn't like riding on my shoulder?" Gilbert asked in mock sorrow.

"Well I had a lovely view," Elizaveta said sarcastically, "but it did give me a little stomach ache."

"That's right, you seemed to prefer when I carried you on my back," Gilbert recalled smugly. Elizaveta stopped in her tracks and stared wide eyed at Gilbert for a moment.

"I thought that was dream," she admitted blushing. She continued forward staring at the ground as she walked.

"So you dream about me?" Gilbert teased, "I guess I would too if I knew someone as awesome as me."

"So was there a reason you wanted to hang out?" asked Elizaveta ignoring Gilbert's comment.

"Does your friend need a specific reason to want to hang out with you?" Gilbert countered. Elizaveta raised her eyebrow at him skeptically.

"Actually there was a reason," Gilbert admitted searching for the right words to continue.

"And that was?" Elizaveta prompted.

"When I dropped you off at your dorm the other day…Yekaterina mentioned that you've been having night mares…and I just wanted to ask… if you're doing ok," Gilbert finished glancing at Elizaveta's face before staring back at the ground. They walked in silence for a while and when Gilbert looked over at Elizaveta's face again her expression was unreadable. He couldn't tell if she was thinking or if he had offended her. They remained silent until they reached the lake and sat down where they had sat the other day. Elizaveta stared into the lake and tried to think of what she should tell him. Under normal circumstances she would just put on a happy face and tell him she was fine, but truth be told she thought that he might see through that. She wasn't even sure if Yekaterina believed her when she said that. She really didn't like not being able to be completely honest with Yekaterina, but she didn't want to give Kat more reasons to be worried about her. Kat behaved so motherly toward her even though they were the same age, and while she appreciated her friend's concern she didn't want people to worry on her account.

"Yoo hoo, anybody home?" Gilbert asked lightly rapping on Elizaveta's head with his knuckles. Elizaveta looked at Gilbert and decided that she needed to talk to someone about this or she would go crazy. She was certain that Gilbert wouldn't worry about her the way that Kat would, so she decided to give it a try. She took a deep breath to gather her thoughts before she began speaking.

"Well to be honest I do still get the night mares," she admitted hugging her knees, " but the last few nights haven't been as bad as before and sometimes I don't even wake up anymore. You could probably guess that the night mares are about…Roderick…but the stupid thing is…I don't think I'm in love with him anymore. It's just…whenever I think about him, or see him in my night mares I feel… rejection…and loneliness…and it hurts." Elizaveta tapered off unable to put her feelings into words anymore. She also didn't want to start crying again and the more she talked the more she could feel the tears coming on.

"Well if it makes you feel any better the awesome Gilbert be here for you and won't reject you," he assured her.

"But you did when you found out I was girl!" Elizaveta pointed out looking him in the eye defiantly. Her statement freshly opened old wounds in both of their hearts.

"So I was a little freaked when I found out. How is that my fault?" Gilbert replied nonchalantly, trying to make light of Elizaveta's accusation.

"Great, I'm Elizaveta the freak now," she spat bitterly.

"I never said you were a freak," Gilbert stated starting to become angry himself.

"But you shunned me because it freaked you out that I was a girl?!" she asked incredulously.

"You know you didn't exactly scream feminine our first year at the academy," Gilbert reminded her impatiently.

"So I was a tomboy, is that a crime?" Elizaveta countered.

"You wore a boy's uniform! What was I supposed to think?" Gilbert asked in exasperation. "Then the next year when you came back in a girl's uniform…and having developed a little more I was shocked because you were the first girl that I ever really got along with that well and it freaked me out. I admit that then I wasn't _quite_ the awesome me that I am now, so instead of facing what was bothering me I just ignored it. By the time I got over it you were already dating that annoying aristocrat, so I thought you didn't need me anymore. After that I kept my distance because I thought that was what you wanted," Gilbert explained his anger simmering down as he spoke.

"That was never what I wanted," Elizaveta replied in a monotone, "All this time I thought you hated me because I was a girl, and it made me so angry that I convinced myself that I didn't care if you ever talked to me again. I told myself all I needed was Roderick because he liked the girl version of me and then…you know."

"You know this would have been a whole lot simpler if you had just worn a girl's uniform that first year," Gilbert commented looking at Elizaveta.

"To tell you the truth that first year I really thought I was a boy," Elizaveta admitted blushing. This new piece of information left Gilbert dumbfounded.

"How?...I mean…Didn't anyone ever tell you that you were a girl?" he stammered after he had gotten over the initial shock.

"Oh they told me," Elizaveta replied smiling to herself," but you know how I am even now, so of course I never believed them. Then at the end of our first year I started getting chest pains, so I went to the nurse and she told me that the pains were because I was a girl and I was…developing. I couldn't really deny it any more after that."

"You make it sound like you were turning into a monster," commented Gilbert.

"I might as well have how you treated me after that," Elizaveta shot back defensively.

"Well I'm here for you now, and unlike that stupid aristocrat I won't reject you…so you don't have to feel alone," Gilbert finished sincerely.

"Alright then," Elizaveta smiled mischievously, "as long as we're making confessions I wanna know who you were stalking when you saw those pained eyes you were talking about before."

"I told you the awesome me does not stalk people," Gilbert responded.

"Quit stalling," Elizaveta commanded playfully.

"Ok then," Gilbert replied flippantly, "it was your mom."

"Oh come on," Elizaveta nagged turning so she could easily see his face, "I told you about thinking I was a boy. It can't be more embarrassing than that."

"And if I don't wanna tell? You gonna make me?" Gilbert challenged.

"Your nose is still broken you know," Elizaveta said threateningly.

"So what? If I don't tell you're gonna pull on my broken nose? That wouldn't get me to tell you, that would just make me have to go back to the nurse and tell her how big bad Elizaveta broke my nose again," Gilbert teased.

"Alright then," Elizaveta replied in a serious tone, "if we're done talking I guess I'll head over to my dorm." Elizaveta got up and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Gilbert called after her. Elizaveta smiled to herself, then put her serious face back on and turned around.

"Yes?" she answered innocently. To her surprise Gilbert was standing a few steps behind her with the same lonely look in his eyes that he had the other day when she hadn't remembered about their secret lake.

"If you leave we'll both be alone again, you know that right?" Gilbert asked.

"Then tell me what I was curious about and I won't leave," Elizaveta insisted.

"I told you what was bothering me, now it would be good for you to learn to trust someone too," Elizaveta continued walking past him to sit down by the water again.

"You're evil," Gilbert informed her also taking a seat again.

"Whatever you say," Elizaveta smiled.

Gilbert just wanted to get this story over with. It was not a time in his life that he liked to think about. "The other eyes that I saw were mine," Gilbert admitted allowing the words to spill out at a rapid pace, "It was when you were dating that annoying aristocrat and I thought you didn't need me anymore. It hurt a surprising amount not to talk to you anymore even after ignoring you for so long. Even though I had Francis and Tony with me all the time I felt lonely a lot. Then one day I looked in the mirror and when I looked at my eyes I could see all the pain and loneliness that I felt inside me. That's why when I saw the same look in your eyes I thought you could use some of my awesomeness to help you feel better."

Elizaveta was stunned. She had no idea that Gilbert had felt that way, or that Gilbert _could_ feel that way. He always seemed so self assured that she had never imagined that he could be lonely or sad. Gilbert looked up and saw Elizaveta's stunned expression.

"Don't you feel sorry for me?" he smirked.

"Oh yeah, totally," she replied sarcastically. She sighed and continued, "Seriously though, are we gonna be ok, because it seems like you were just as broken inside as I feel now."

"Well we've got each other now, so I think we'll be alright," Gilbert replied impulsively rolling onto his knees and kissing her on the forehead. "Besides I have enough awesomeness to make both of us feel better," he added smiling.


End file.
